Kate McClure and Mark D’Amico started the online fund drive in November 2017, claiming that vagrant Johnny Bobbitt had spent his last $20 to buy McClure a tank of gas when her car broke down along I-95 outside Philadelphia.

But the couple, who officials said were hard up for cash themselves, had actually known Bobbitt for at least a month, occasionally spotting him $10 or a cup of coffee as he panhandled near an underpass by Philly’s SugarHouse Casino, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said in a Thursday press briefing.

It was off the same exit ramp to the casino that McClure and Bobbitt posed for a touching photo together after Bobbitt supposedly came to her rescue with the gas money — which officials now say was anything but spur-of-the-moment.

Less than an hour after the couple’s “Pay It Forward” campaign went live on GoFundMe, McClure texted a friend, copping to the whole ruse.

“Okay so wait the gas part is completely made up … But the guy isn’t,” she wrote. “I had to make something up to make people feel bad … So, shush about the made up part.”

The heartstring-tugging tale worked, as donations started pouring in for Bobbitt, with the viral campaign’s haul eventually blowing past $400,000.